A PRESTON school teacher is to take a three week trip abroad to 'peruse' the good work being done by the national charity her school supports.

Elisa Birchall, 26, a teacher from St Mary's and St Benedict's Primary School in Brownedge Lane, Bamber Bridge, will visit Peru next month to see how the country has benefited from cash raised by CAFOD -- the Catholic Fund for Overseas Development.

On the Millennium Award Commission-sponsored trip Elisa will be joined by three other teachers and two CAFOD employees.

She said: "I can't wait to meet the people CAFOD has helped and see for myself some of the injustices they are fighting."

After arriving in the country's capital, Lima, Elisa will visit schools, libraries, environmental and various youth projects, including a scheme which teaches teenagers to care for children in a bid to stop them straying into a life of drugs and crime.

The team will then make their way to Cajamarca to look at projects at a rural library and a radio project before heading out to the coast to Chimbote. Now, Elisa (pictured) plans to snap as many pictures as possible in order to show the children in her class the sights of the South American country.

She said: "The youngsters over there are very keen to show us what they have done with the money and in the same way, my pupils want to see what their money has been spent on.

"It's so much more satisfying for them to raise money when they know what it's being used for."

And to make sure the children are fully involved Elisa has transformed a corner of her classroom into a Peruvian village with a pretend llama and mud hut!

She added: "It will be an experience of a lifetime to find out the reality of life in Peru and help the children here celebrate the differences in the world."